LESSON 1

The Sun-Earth-Moon System

Earth’s Motion Around the Sun

Key Concept
• What causes the patterns
What do you think? Read the two statements below and decide of the seasons?
whether you agree or disagree with them. Place an A in the Before
column if you agree with the statement or a D if you disagree. After
you’ve read this lesson, reread the statements to see if you have
changed your mind.
Before Statement After
Earth’s movement around the Sun causes
sunrises and sunsets.
Earth has seasons because its distance from
the Sun changes throughout the year.

Mark the Text

How does Earth move? Identify Main Ideas 

Highlight each head in one
If you look around you, it does not seem as if Earth is
color. Use another color to
moving. The ground, trees, and buildings do not seem to be highlight key words in the
moving. But Earth is always in motion. It spins and moves paragraphs under the head
around the Sun. Earth’s motion causes changes on Earth. As that explain or support the
Earth spins, day changes to night and back to day again. The head. Use your highlighting
seasons change as Earth moves around the Sun. Summer turns to review the lesson.
to winter because Earth’s motion changes how energy from the
Sun spreads out over Earth’s surface.
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Earth’s Rotation As Earth revolves around the Sun, it spins. A

spinning motion is called rotation. Earth rotates on an imaginary
line that runs through its center. The line on which an object
Scientific Vocabulary
rotates is the rotation axis.
pole
If you could look down onto Earth’s North Pole, you would (noun) the most northern
see that Earth rotates in a counterclockwise direction, from west or most southern point on
to east. One complete rotation of Earth takes about 24 hours. a planet
One rotation completes Earth’s cycle of day and night. It is
daytime on the half of Earth that faces the Sun. It is nighttime Academic Vocabulary
on the half of Earth that faces away from the Sun. cycle
(noun) a set of events that
happen over and over
again

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Scientific Vocabulary
mass
(noun) the amount of
material in something
Earth’s Revolution The motion of one object around another
object is called revolution. Earth makes one complete revolution
around the Sun every 365.24 days. The path an object follows as
it moves around another object is an orbit. Earth orbits the Sun
in an almost circular path.
Earth orbits the Sun because the Sun’s gravity pulls on
Earth. The strength of gravity’s pull between two objects
depends on the masses of the objects and the distance between
them. An object with more mass has a greater pull of gravity
than an object with less mass. Likewise, gravity’s pull is greater
on objects that are closer together.
Earth’s orbit around the Sun is like the motion of an object
twirled on a string. The string pulls on the object and moves it
in a circle. If the string breaks, the object flies off in a straight
line. The Sun’s gravity is like the string. Gravity keeps Earth
revolving around the Sun in a nearly circular orbit. If the pull of
gravity between the Sun and Earth stopped suddenly, Earth
would fly off into space in a straight line, as shown in the
figure below.

Earth
Earth’s motion without
the Sun’s gravitational
pull Gravitational
pull of the Sun
January 3
Sun Earth is closest
to the Sun.
152 million km 147 million km
July 4
Earth is farthest
from the Sun.

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Earth’s orbit

Earth’s Tilted Axis Earth’s rotation axis is tilted. The tilt of Earth’s

rotation axis does not change. During one-half of Earth’s orbit, the
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north end of the rotation axis is tilted toward the Sun. During the
other half of Earth’s orbit, the north end of the rotation axis is tilted
away from the Sun.

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 Why does the view of the sky change
over time?
You know that the Sun moves across the sky during the day.
So you might think that the stars you see as you go to bed move
across the sky during the night. It turns out that, for most of the
stars, you are correct.

Apparent Motion Each day, the Sun appears to move across

the sky from east to west. It seems as if the Sun is moving
around Earth. In fact, it is Earth’s rotation that causes the Sun’s
apparent motion. Earth rotates from west to east. This makes the
Sun appear to move from east to west across the sky. The Moon
and stars also seem to move from east to west across the sky. This
too is due to Earth’s west-to-east rotation. The west-to-east
rotation causes an apparent east-to-west motion across the sky.

Why is Earth warmer at the equator

and colder at the poles? Scientific Vocabulary
The air temperature near the equator is always hot. As you equator  
travel toward the poles, the air temperature becomes cooler. (noun) an imaginary line
Near the poles, the air temperature is always cold. that divides Earth into its
northern and southern
Temperature and Earth’s Curved Surface As Earth orbits halves
the Sun, the Sun shines on the half of Earth that faces the Sun.
Sunlight carries energy. The more sunlight that reaches a part of Academic Vocabulary
Earth’s surface, the warmer that part becomes. Because Earth’s face
surface is curved, different parts of Earth’s surface get different (verb) to be looking in a
particular direction
amounts of the Sun’s energy.

Energy Received by a Tilted Surface Suppose you shine a

flashlight onto a flat card. The beam shines in a circle on the
card. As you tilt the top of the card away from the beam of light,
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the light becomes more spread out on the card’s surface. The
energy that the light beam carries also spreads out more over
the card’s surface. An area on the surface within the light beam
receives less energy when the surface is more tilted relative to
the light beam.

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 The Tilt of Earth’s Curved Surface Earth’s surface is curved
and tilted. Therefore, the Sun’s energy becomes more spread out
as you move away from the equator and toward the poles, as
shown in the figure below. As a result, regions of Earth near the
poles receive less energy than areas near the equator. This is
why Earth is warmer at the equator and colder at the poles.

Sunlight is more spread out away from equator.

Sunlight is less spread out near equator.

Equator

Sunlight is more spread out away from equator.

Why do Earth’s seasons change as

Earth orbits the Sun?
You might think that summer happens when Earth is closest
to the Sun. However, seasonal changes do not depend on
Earth’s distance from the Sun. In fact, Earth is closest to the Sun
in January! The tilt of Earth’s rotation axis and Earth’s rotation
around the Sun cause the seasons to change.

Fall and Winter in the Northern Hemisphere During one-

Scientific Vocabulary
half of Earth’s orbit, the north end of the rotation axis is tilted
hemisphere
away from the Sun. During this time, the northern hemisphere
(noun) one of the halves
of Earth receives less energy from the Sun than the southern hemisphere

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does, as shown in the figure below.

N Northern hemisphere
receives less sunlight.

Southern
hemisphere
receives more
sunlight.
S

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 Temperatures are cooler in the northern hemisphere and
warmer in the southern hemisphere. It is fall and winter in the
northern hemisphere. At the same time, it is spring and summer
in the southern hemisphere.

Spring and Summer in the Northern Hemisphere During

the other half of Earth’s orbit, the north end of the rotation axis
is tilted toward the Sun. During this time, the northern
hemisphere receives more energy from the Sun than the
southern hemisphere does. Temperatures are warmer in the
northern hemisphere and cooler in the southern hemisphere.
Daylight hours last longer in the northern hemisphere. Nights
last longer in the southern hemisphere. It is spring and summer
in the northern hemisphere and fall and winter in the southern
hemisphere.

N
Northern
hemisphere
receives more
sunlight.

Southern hemisphere
receives less sunlight. S

What is Earth’s seasonal cycle?

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As Earth travels around the Sun, Earth’s rotation axis always
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points in the same direction in space. But the amount of time

that Earth’s rotation axis is toward or away from the Sun
changes. This causes the yearly cycle of the seasons.
There are four days each year when the direction of Earth’s Science Use v. Common Use
axis is special relative to the Sun. The figure on the next page relative
shows how the seasons change as Earth moves around the Sun. Science Use in relation to
Earth’s motion around the Sun causes Earth’s tilted rotation axis Common Use a person
to be leaning toward the Sun and away from the Sun. A solstice connected with another
is a day when Earth’s rotation axis is the most toward or away by blood or marriage
from the Sun. An equinox is a day when Earth’s rotation axis is
leaning along Earth’s orbit, neither toward or away from the Sun.

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 Northern hemisphere
Same amount of sunlight as
receives less sunlight.
on southern hemisphere

Southern hemisphere
Same amount of sunlight as
receives more sunlight.
on northern hemisphere

December Solstice September Equinox

The December solstice is on December 21 or 22.
On this day
the north end of Earth’s rotation axis is away from
the Sun;
days in the northern hemisphere are shortest and
nights are longest; winter begins;
days in the southern hemisphere are longest and
nights are shortest; summer begins.
The September equinox is on September 22 or 23.
On this day
the north end of Earth’s rotation axis leans along
Earth’s orbit;
there are about 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours
of darkness everywhere on Earth;
autumn begins in the northern hemisphere;
spring begins in the southern hemisphere.

December Earth’s orbit September

113.5˚ 90˚
Solstice Equinox

Sun
Rotation
90˚ 66.5˚ axis

March June
Equinox Solstice

Same amount of sunlight as

on southern hemisphere Northern hemisphere
receives more sunlight.

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Same amount of sunlight as
on northern hemisphere Southern hemisphere
receives less sunlight.

March Equinox June Solstice

The March equinox is on March 20 or 21.
On this day
the north end of Earth’s rotation axis leans along
Earth’s orbit;
there are about 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of
darkness everywhere on Earth;
spring begins in the northern hemisphere;
autumn begins in the southern hemisphere.
The June solstice is on June 20 or 21.
On this day
the north end of Earth’s rotation axis is toward
the Sun;
days in the northern hemisphere are longest and
nights are shortest; summer begins;
days in the southern hemisphere are shortest and
nights are longest; winter begins.

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 March Equinox to June Solstice The north end of the
rotation axis slowly points more and more toward the Sun. As a
result, the northern hemisphere slowly receives more solar
energy. Spring takes place in the northern hemisphere.

June Solstice to September Equinox The north end of the

rotation axis still points toward the Sun but does so less and
less. The northern hemisphere starts to receive less solar energy.
This is summer in the northern hemisphere.
Word Origin
September Equinox to December Solstice The north end equinox
of the rotation axis points more and more away from the Sun. from Latin equinoxium,
The northern hemisphere receives less and less solar energy. Fall means “equality of night
and day”
takes place in the northern hemisphere.

December Solstice to March Equinox The north end of the

rotation axis still points away from the Sun but does so less and
less. As a result, the northern hemisphere starts to receive more
solar energy. This is winter in the northern hemisphere.
Changes in the Sun’s Apparent Path Across the Sky As
the seasons change, the Sun’s apparent path across the sky also
changes. In the northern hemisphere, the Sun’s path through
the sky is highest on the June solstice. Similarly, the Sun’s path
is lowest on the December solstice. The figure below illustrates
these changes.

December March June September

solstice equinox solstice equinox

S N S N S N S N

E E E E
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Reread the statements at the beginning of the lesson. Fill in

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the After column with an A if you agree with the statement or a
D if you disagree. Did you change your mind?

Reading Essentials The Sun-Earth-Moon System  7

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